"Are you sure?" asked Kurama.
"Yes. I am definitely sure," said Naruto.
"Why didn't you use my power baka!" asked Kurama angrily.
"I didn't want to in front of Shino and Kiba," said Naruto.
"And what about me?" asked Amaya pouting.
"Well, I didn't have time," said Naruto.
"Okay, wake up. You have been unconscious for about the whole night," said Kurama, and Naruto started to stir.
The first thing he saw was the face of a pretty lady.
"Who are you?" asked Naruto hazily.
"Finally, you woke up. I am Tsunami, daughter of Tazuna whom you are protecting," she said.
"Where is my team?" asked Naruto.
At that time, everyone entered.
"NARUTO! You were so cool," said Kiba as Akamaru jumped on him and licked him.
"S-stop! I need to talk," said Naruto.
"What Naruto?" asked Kakashi.
"You know hunter nins destroy the body on spot," said Naruto.
"Yeah, so what about that?" asked Sakura.
"What weapon did he use?" asked Kakashi to others. Sasuke realized where it was going.
"SENBON!" he exclaimed.
"Not the regular ones. He used ice senbons," said Naruto.
"So what? He killed him and that's what matters," said Kiba.
"Kiri is going through a civil war because the Mizukage is killing all those with kekkei Genkai. Only a person with ice release kekkei Genkai can use a weapon of ice. Plus senbon is rarely used to kill, it's a medical tool," said Naruto.
"How can a person with kekkei Genkai be on the tracking squad if he has a kekkei gen... shit!" said Kurenai.
"The only logical thing is thing is that he was an accomplice of Zabuza and he is still alive," said Kakashi.
"WHAT!" yelled everyone except Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto.
"Yeah, we need to train. Wait, did someone remove my weights?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, well, you were very heavy with that," said Sasuke.
"Anyways, I need a brush, some ink and some paper. I need to prepare some seals as I still can't mark others with just my hands," said Naruto.
"What was the thing you did with Zabuza?" asked Kurenai.
"Well as I can't go drawing seals during a battle, I have some basic pre-made seals and I put them on my opponent. As soon as it touches and sticks to my opponent, it burns and the seal becomes embedded in his skin," said Naruto.
"That's... brilliant," said Kurenai in shock.
"Why are you all going against Gato. You will die," said a kid who was there.
"Inari, don't say something like that! They are heroes," said Tsunami angrily.
"Heroes? Something like that doesn't exist. You all are foolish and you will die," said Inari angrily.
"Hey! We will not die. We will defeat him and protect everything," said Naruto with passion.
"You are stupid," he screamed as he ran out.
Naruto went after him. When he reached his room, he saw the door was a little open, and Inari was crying while looking towards the ocean. Looking at him, all the anger he had dissipated. All that was left was sadness an sympathy.
He went back to the room.
"There was this photo he was looking at and crying. What happened?" asked Naruto in a quiet tone. Both Tazuna and Tsunami tensed. Tsunami went out of the room as Tazuna began the story.
"He... was Inari's father," said Tazuna.
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"I am going out," said Naruto as he walked out of the room.
'That bloody Gato!' thought Naruto.
"He... kid, don't lose your cool. Gato is most probably using Zabuza and the other guy. Don't lose your cool, and don't do anything stupid," said Kurama. Amaya meanwhile, was silent.
"Gato is so dead," said Naruto angrily.
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For the next week, Naruto trained relentlessly. He was currently lying under a tree, nearly unconscious.
A person who was picking some herbs found him. He went near him, and after a moment, woke him up.
"Huh? Who are you?" asked Naruto.
"Haku. I was here to pick some herbs but saw you. Say, are you a ninja?" asked Haku.
"Yeah. A Konoha ninja. I was training here, and I got tired," said Naruto.
'So she... is it she or he? His chakra is of a boy, but he is so cute. There are so many things to see in the world, it's so full of mystery,' thought Naruto.
"Why were you training?" asked Haku.
"Well, I need to get stronger and stronger," said Naruto.
"Why? You are already pretty strong," said Haku.
"I want to become Hokage. I want to achieve peace. But most importantly, I want to protect those precious to me," said Naruto.
"Then you will become strong. Because when a person has something precious to protect..." started Haku.
"... Only then can they become truly strong," completed Naruto.
"Yes. I need to go, bye," said Haku with a smile.
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"Naruto, Uzumaki, huh?" muttered Inari.
He was currently looking at the photo of his father. Tears threatened to fall out of his eyes.
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Everyone was sitting at the table, except Naruto, who hadn't come back yet.
"Where is he now? He hasn't come back since yesterday," said Sakura.
"N-Naruto kun was training all day," said Hinata.
"You saw him?" asked Kakashi.
"Yes, he was practising Taijutsu," said Hinata.
"Yeah, but it's been a whole day," said Sakura.
"He likes sleeping outside," said Sasuke.
"But what about food?" asked Kiba.
"Well, last time I saw, he could go a week without food and two days without water and would still be in fighting condition," said Sasuke.
"Yeah, Naruto kun does that a lot. It's a part of his training," said Hinata.
The door opened, and a dirty and bruised Naruto entered.
"Where were you Naruto?" asked Sakura.
"Training. I summoned Takashi and sparred with him," lied Naruto.
Naruto sat at the table and ate the food as everyone chatted.
"I must thank you all for going out of the scope of your mission to help us," said Tazuna.
"No, don't. To think what is right without doing it bespeaks an absence of courage," said Kakashi.
Inari, listening to everything and seeing Naruto, got flashbacks of the moments he spent with his father, and his execution. Due to this, he started crying.
"Huh? What happened?" asked Naruto.
"Why do you desperately work so hard until you get like that? There's no way you will be a match for Gato's men even if you train. No matter what things you do or what cool things you say, the week will always lose against the truly strong," yelled Inari.
"Shut up, I am not like you," said Naruto in a bored tone.
"SHUT UP! Looking at you makes me sick. Sticking your nose in even though you know nothing about this land. I am not like you who is always acting brave, not knowing one thing about pain," Yelled Inari.
Hinata, Kakashi, and Sasuke became tense at this.
"So? So you are going to cry all day like a lead in a tragedy? An idiot like you can just cry forever. You crybaby!" said Naruto angrily.
"Naruto, that's a bit harsh," said Sakura.
"I don't care. And don't lecture me about pain," said Naruto as he got up and walked outside.
The table was completely silent, even Inari was in shock.
"Naruto didn't mean any harm by his words. He is just upfront and blunt. We heard the story about your father from Tazuna. Like you, Naruto didn't have a father from childhood. Heck, he never even knew both his parents until he turned 6. Not only that, he didn't have a single friend," said Sasuke after a moment.
"What?" asked Inari, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah. Yet I have never seen him being sulk, be timid or cry. He is always eager, wanting to be acknowledged by someone. If it's for sake of his dream, he is always ready to risk his life. He is probably tired of crying," said Kakashi.
"Naruto might understand your feeling the most. What he said earlier, there is no mistaking that he said it to himself over and over again," he added after a pause.
"How much has that kid suffered!" gasped Tazuna.
The thing Tazuna said triggered the image in Sasuke's mind. He felt grossed out, scared and angry. He began shaking.
"Sasuke kun, hat happened?" asked Sakura.
"I-I-I was there. I saw it," said Sasuke, looking at Kakashi teary-eyed.
For a moment, Kakashi was confused, but then he put everything together. Itachi, when he worked with Kakashi, had told him that his brother had seen what happened to Naruto and was in mental trauma for months.
"Saw what?" asked Sakura.
"Sakura, don't," said Kakashi as he patted Sasuke's back.
Everyone was confused.
"Sasuke, let it all out," said Kakashi as he took him outside. Everyone followed him, but got to the door that led to the garden, and saw Sasuke puking.
"I, I was playing peekaboo with Itachi, when I roamed to the outskirts. There I s-s-saw a group of people. 4 p-people were holding each of his limbs, as the other three took out their Kunais and started cutting him. B-b-blood was everywhere. They were chanting 'demon' and 'monster' while N-N-Naruto was begging them to kill him. He was asking what he had done to them, why they were doing this, but they just poured alcohol on him. He screamed so much," said Sasuke crying and puking. Tsunami had covered Inari's ears. Everyone was wide-eyed.
"One of them then took out a lighter and heated his kunai, while the other two wrote 'demon' on his leg, with their kunai. The third one then put the burnt kunai on his leg, and Naruto screamed so loud. It hurt. Slowly, slowly. His screams were loud. He was scared. He was begging for death. I have never seen anything like that," said Sasuke.
Kakashi was now shaking with anger, but was trying to comfort Sasuke.
"The day when we became friends, when I was returning home, I remembered this, and it continues to haunt me," said Sasuke.
"It haunts me too. but look at Naruto, he is so happy. We should be happy for him," said Kakashi.
Everyone else was also close to puking now. Hinata was crying really hard.
After some moment, Kakashi went inside with Sasuke. There was complete silence.
"Why did that kid go through all this?" asked Tazuna.
"Because people don't know the fucking difference between a scroll and Kunai," said Kakashi.